Lifebox

Non-profit organization

Lifebox

Formation| 2011
Founder| Atul Gawande
Headquarters| England

Global CEO

| Kris Torgeson
Website| https://www.lifebox.org/
Remarks| Registered as a charity in England & Wales (#1143018)

The Lifebox Foundation, commonly known as Lifebox, is a non-profit organization that improves the safety of surgery in low-income countries.[1][2][3]

## Background

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Use of checklists in surgery reduces mortality by 24%, yet World Health Organization surgical checklists are published in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish and use of them is low in countries where people speak other languages, notably low-income countries.[2]

## History

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Atul Gawande

Lifebox was formed as a charity in the United Kingdom in 2011,[4][5] and in the United States in 2015.[5]

The original formation of the organization included representatives of World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists, the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Harvard School of Public Health.

From its foundation until 2022 Lifebox board was chaired by Atul Gawande.[6] Since January 2022 the board of Lifebox has been chaired by Pauline Philip.[7]

## Activities

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The organization promotes the use of checklists before medical surgeries.[8][9] Use of the checklists reduces surgical mortality and complications.[8]

Lifebox organized hospitals to pool their purchasing power to reduce the cost of pulse oximeters from US$2,000 to $250,[8] and distributed 22,000 hospital-grade pulse oximeters.[4][10][5] Lifebox also provides anesthesia training.[4]

## References

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1. ^ Foley, Katherine Ellen (8 December 2020). "Atul Gawande says the key to hospitals staying resilient is slowing down". Quartz. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
2. ^ a b McNeil, Donald G. (15 January 2020). "Where Surgeons Don't Bother With Checklists". The New York Times.
3. ^ Baker, Rachel (2020-09-24). "Reducing surgical site infections in low-resource settings". Scope. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
4. ^ a b c Feinmann, Jane (2017-02-14). "The Little Yellow Box Making Surgery Safer in Developing Countries". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
5. ^ a b c Enright, Angela; Merry, Alan; Walker, Isabeau; Wilson, Iain (15 June 2016). "Lifebox: A Global Patient Safety Initiative". A&A Practice. 6 (12): 366–369. doi:10.1213/XAA.0000000000000335. PMID 27301049.
6. ^ Wilson, I. H.; Walker, I. A. (17 January 2012). "Lifebox: give a little, help a lot". BMJ. 344 (jan17 1): e313. doi:10.1136/bmj.e313. PMID 22251865. S2CID 270467. ProQuest 1945182499.
7. ^ "Lifebox press release". Retrieved 2024-05-14.
8. ^ a b c Laurance, Jeremy (2011-04-24). "Atul Gawande: a career built on an obsession with deadly failures". The Independent. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
9. ^ Weiser, T G; Haynes, A B (14 June 2018). "Ten years of the Surgical Safety Checklist". British Journal of Surgery. 105 (8): 927–929. doi:10.1002/bjs.10907. PMC 6032919. PMID 29770959.
10. ^ "Surgical NGOs play a crucial role in universal healthcare | Hospitals". Healthcare Global. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 2021-12-27.

## External links

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* Official website